Liongate has jumped onto the user generated content bandwagon by investing in web property Break.com, which it says will become a route to market for its 11,000 strong film archive. Break.com is targeted at a young male audience and claims to have 17 million unique visitors a month.
No detailed financial terms of deal were released by the two companies.
Lionsgate and Break will work together to find ways to distribute feature films, TV programming. At the same time Lionsgate will get access to the Break talent pool which it will no doubt harness in much the same way as Sony and its Grouper/Crackle UGC site, although we would expect it to be done a little more stylishly than the awful Crackle (see separate story).
“Break is one of the freshest and most original platforms for content
in the new media space,” said Lionsgate Co-Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer Jon Feltheimer. “They immediately appealed to us as an ideal fit.
They serve a large niche that we know well, and they are another
entrepreneurial partner whose culture, business plan, and creative
sensibilities blend seamlessly with our own.”
“We first interacted with Break as an advertiser, and we had impressive
success there,” added Lionsgate Vice Chairman Michael Burns. “We came to recognize them as a premier platform for integrating content and
advertising as well as the leading online site serving the young male
demographic.”